The Art of Building a Gaming PC: Tips and Tricks from James

In this article, we'll explore some valuable tips and tricks for building a gaming PC, straight from the mouth of tech enthusiast James. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or just starting out, these tips will help you navigate the complex world of PC hardware and make informed decisions when it comes to choosing the right components.

**Power Supplies: A Critical Component**

When it comes to power supplies, there's one brand that stands head and shoulders above the rest: iBuyPower. With their impressive selection of power supplies, iBuyPower has consistently delivered high-quality products at affordable prices. In fact, James notes that iBuyPower has been one of the best brands in terms of pure price-to-performance. But what sets them apart from the competition? According to James, it's their ability to balance power and performance with affordability.

However, not all power supplies are created equal. When shopping for a power supply, it's essential to consider the wattage rating and efficiency. Look for a power supply with an 80+ Gold certification, which ensures that it meets strict efficiency standards. Additionally, consider the number of connectors and ports you'll need, as well as any specific features like modular cabling or high-quality components.

**Pre-Built Gaming PCs: A Viable Option?**

When it comes to pre-built gaming PCs, James has mixed feelings about their value proposition. While some pre-built systems can be tempting due to their convenience and ease of use, they often come with a hefty price tag that may not justify the cost. However, there are some excellent pre-built options available on the market, particularly from brands like iBuyPower.

In his video, James explores some of the best pre-built gaming PCs on the market, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. He also notes that certain brands, such as Alpha Sync, offer high-quality pre-built systems at competitive prices. When shopping for a pre-built PC, make sure to do your research and read reviews from multiple sources to ensure you're getting a system that meets your needs.

**AMD vs Intel: The Great CPU Debate**

When it comes to CPUs, the debate between AMD and Intel has been raging for years. While both brands have their strengths and weaknesses, James notes that AMD has historically been the better value option when it comes to pure price-to-performance. However, this may not be the case in every situation.

In recent months, AMD's CPU prices have skyrocketed, making them less competitive than Intel. But what about new releases like the Ryzen 7 5700X or the Core i9-11900F? According to James, these CPUs are still excellent options that offer impressive performance at a lower price point than their predecessors.

However, James notes that when it comes to raw power, AMD is still the clear winner. But for those looking for a more affordable option without sacrificing too much performance, Intel's offerings are definitely worth considering.

**Budget Gaming Options: A Stopping-Gap Measure**

When it comes to budget gaming options, there are several solutions available that can help bridge the gap until prices return to normal. One such option is buying an older GPU from eBay or other online marketplaces. While the selection may be limited and prices may fluctuate wildly, it's possible to find a great deal on a used GPU.

Another option is to consider the GT 1030, GTX 1650, or GTX 1660 Super, which can provide surprisingly good performance at an affordable price point. However, James notes that these GPUs are not meant for high-end gaming but rather as a stopping-gap measure until prices return to normal.

In any case, it's essential to do your research and read reviews from multiple sources before making a purchase, regardless of whether you're buying a new or used GPU.

**The Future of Gaming: A Market in Flux**

As we head into the holiday season, James is concerned about the state of the gaming market. With demand for GPUs expected to increase rapidly once again, it's likely that prices will skyrocket, making it even more challenging for gamers to find affordable options.

However, some experts believe that Ethereum's shift away from GPU mining could lead to a surge in GPU availability and prices plummeting. While this is certainly possible, James notes that he can't see this happening anytime soon.

In the meantime, gamers may need to consider alternative solutions, such as buying an older GPU or opting for a CPU with better performance-to-price ratio. By being informed and prepared, you can navigate the complex world of PC hardware and make the most of your gaming experience, regardless of what the future holds.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwith gpu pricing still pretty volatile and stock quite difficult to find with scalpers still in the pc gaming market it got me thinking is it actually really possible to build a budget gaming pc right now in 2021. in today's video i'm going to be answering that question and giving you guys some advice some tips as to how you can actually go about getting your hands on the hardware to build a budget system and what hardware you should be trying to find here on the channel we've built a number of super budget pcs and i've managed to do them all by following a few key rules and i'm going to share those with you in today's video before that though a quick word from today's video sponsor today's video has been made possible by gigabyte and their range of rtx 3000 series graphics cards now featuring the geforce rtx 3070 ti and rtx 3080 ti with the latest second gen rt cores for better ray tracing than ever the latest games have never looked so good you also get dlss 2.0 supported in titles like call of duty's warzone check out the groundbreaking ai tech and more on the full range of gigabyte auris and vision gpus linked below now you guys are probably just as fed up as i am of seeing the same youtubers making the same videos about how gpu prices are falling stocks coming back but even now pricing of graphics cards on ebay is still way higher than what it should be and while things are headed in the right direction are we at a point where you can build a budget system right now and get some good value for money i actually think you can we've built a number of budget systems on the channel of varying degrees of sort of power if you will right from a 1080p low settings machine with a gt 1030 all the way up to something like a 1660 super which is on the much higher end and comes quite close to a 2060 in terms of performance we've talked on the channel about how you shouldn't overlook a card like a gt 1030 it might seem crazy to be recommending this gpu in 2021 but lots of people are quick to fanboy over amd's range of apus and that's my first tip in today's video think twice before buying an apu now apus from amd are a potentially great option for budget builders they tend to have a g at the end of the name indicating that they have radeon graphics on board and a huge fanfare came about when amd announced their new range of 5 000 and 6000 series apus but digging a little deeper reveals that something like a gt 1030 paired with a budget cpu performs just as well if not better now i'm not suggesting a gt 1030 is a long term gaming solution it isn't but if you look into game at 1080p in titles like gta 5 overwatch and those kind of esports oriented games it's actually not a bad option i understand for a lot of people though the gt 1030 is not the answer to building a pc in 2021 thankfully cards like the 1650 1650 super right up to the 1660 super can be found on the likes of ebay from reputable sellers for actually quite decent price points you can pick up a card like this for around 300 give or take but jumping up to a 20 60 means you're probably gonna spend about 700 that's a huge price difference to pay for really not that much more power which brings me on nicely to the second tip in today's video pick your gpus carefully now certain cards are good for crypto mining and certain cards are most definitely not and remember crypto mining is what's currently driving the demand for gpus we explained in a recent video why that may change and gpu mining may actually disappear in the next sort of 12 months or so but it doesn't change the fact that right now there are certain cards which are better to buy than others that's why the gt 1030s haven't been affected because they're rubbish at gpu mining it's the same with a 1650 a 1650 is not a good card if you're wanting to mine crypto which is why stock and availability of those has been a little bit better obviously with more people trying to buy whatever gpus are left over for gaming 1650 demand and supply has been a little bit out of whack as well so what do you do then in that case if gpus where you are are simply unavailable to buy and you don't frankly want to game on a gt 1030. well that brings me on to tip number three which is actually pre-built now don't click away don't turn off the channel you guys know that i'm the biggest advocate of anyone of building your own pc it's great fun it's a great experience and you really can get a system that's one of a kind but pre-builts have been largely unaffected by the current situation lead times might be slightly longer and there probably are going to be limits on the number you can buy per customer but you guys are probably only won in one game in pc so you should be fine over in the us i buy power who did admittedly get slated by gamers nexus recently have shown to be one of the best in terms of pure price to performance we explored this in a dedicated video about the best pre-boats to buy which you can find in the card section now and i'll link everything i'll talk about in the description below as well i'm not discounting some of the points gamer's nexus raised in his video but there's no discount in the fact that i buy power historically this year have been the best as far as raw price to performance is concerned here in the uk a great brand to look at is alpha sync we do work with them on a sort of sponsored basis but this video hasn't been paid for by them they don't know i'm making it and i'll drop their links in the description below as well moving away from pre-built for a second though and on to the fourth point i wanted to raise in this video this point actually has nothing to do with gpus at all which might seem a bit confusing james aren't we in the middle of a gpu crisis now we are but other hardware has not been unaffected that's not me trying to scare you when gpu prices return to normal building a system will be so much easier but amd cpus have actually crept up in price an awful lot over the last 12 to 18 months i remember the days when you could buy a ryzen 5 3600 for 189 i sound like such an old man back in the day but literally 18 months ago you could buy a killer 6 core chip for 189 now the new ryzen 5600x which replaced it is selling for 299 320. it's crazy and that's why my fourth tip is to consider intel you heard me right have a look at intel cpus new releases like the 11400f or even the last generation 10400f can be found for a great deal right now online and bundles are often a fantastic way of saving a bit of money buying a cpu motherboard and ram in one bundle can save you a lot of cash over buying the parts individually intel really do have some great cpus as far as price to performance is concerned at the moment even the new i7 11700f is a much better value option than something like a ryzen 5600x or even a ryzen 7 chip from the latest generation don't get me wrong as far as pure power is concerned amd are still the winners by a bit of a country mile if i'm being honest with you but when price to performance comes into the equation intel really do have some great options out there now hopefully at this point in the video you're thinking james this is very useful information this is helpful but why then are you still making these videos on hardware we just can't buy with a 30 70 ti 3080 ti why should we care anymore to be honest with you that's a great question we've tried to do more budget content on the channel for that reason but we're tech enthusiasts at heart and the last thing that we want to do is not cover the new high-end hardware that a lot of you guys want to see for the giggles right just because it's more difficult to buy it doesn't help us at all that you can't buy this hardware and the last thing that we want is you guys watching videos of products you just can't get your hands on with because i mean to be honest what's the fun in that i do think though that the market is getting better and is starting to return to normal as we discussed in a more detailed video which you really should check out in the description below but with that being said i am a little bit worried as the holiday season rolls around as we head into october and november which might seem ages away yet but really isn't demand for gpus and gaming is once again going to increase at a rapid rate and i'm concerned that the market just doesn't have the number of gpus available to really satisfy that demand who knows before the end of the year maybe ethereum will completely ditch gpu mining cryptos will crash and thousands of gpus will run onto ebay for ridiculously cheap prices but unfortunately i just can't quite see that happening so with that being said a gt 1030 a gtx 1650 or 1660 super might actually be worth considering as a great stopgap measure to get performance that will probably surprise you you can find our full range of budget bills linked in the description below if you found this video useful insightful enjoyable all that good stuff make sure to get subscribed thanks for watching though and as always we'll see you in the next onewith gpu pricing still pretty volatile and stock quite difficult to find with scalpers still in the pc gaming market it got me thinking is it actually really possible to build a budget gaming pc right now in 2021. in today's video i'm going to be answering that question and giving you guys some advice some tips as to how you can actually go about getting your hands on the hardware to build a budget system and what hardware you should be trying to find here on the channel we've built a number of super budget pcs and i've managed to do them all by following a few key rules and i'm going to share those with you in today's video before that though a quick word from today's video sponsor today's video has been made possible by gigabyte and their range of rtx 3000 series graphics cards now featuring the geforce rtx 3070 ti and rtx 3080 ti with the latest second gen rt cores for better ray tracing than ever the latest games have never looked so good you also get dlss 2.0 supported in titles like call of duty's warzone check out the groundbreaking ai tech and more on the full range of gigabyte auris and vision gpus linked below now you guys are probably just as fed up as i am of seeing the same youtubers making the same videos about how gpu prices are falling stocks coming back but even now pricing of graphics cards on ebay is still way higher than what it should be and while things are headed in the right direction are we at a point where you can build a budget system right now and get some good value for money i actually think you can we've built a number of budget systems on the channel of varying degrees of sort of power if you will right from a 1080p low settings machine with a gt 1030 all the way up to something like a 1660 super which is on the much higher end and comes quite close to a 2060 in terms of performance we've talked on the channel about how you shouldn't overlook a card like a gt 1030 it might seem crazy to be recommending this gpu in 2021 but lots of people are quick to fanboy over amd's range of apus and that's my first tip in today's video think twice before buying an apu now apus from amd are a potentially great option for budget builders they tend to have a g at the end of the name indicating that they have radeon graphics on board and a huge fanfare came about when amd announced their new range of 5 000 and 6000 series apus but digging a little deeper reveals that something like a gt 1030 paired with a budget cpu performs just as well if not better now i'm not suggesting a gt 1030 is a long term gaming solution it isn't but if you look into game at 1080p in titles like gta 5 overwatch and those kind of esports oriented games it's actually not a bad option i understand for a lot of people though the gt 1030 is not the answer to building a pc in 2021 thankfully cards like the 1650 1650 super right up to the 1660 super can be found on the likes of ebay from reputable sellers for actually quite decent price points you can pick up a card like this for around 300 give or take but jumping up to a 20 60 means you're probably gonna spend about 700 that's a huge price difference to pay for really not that much more power which brings me on nicely to the second tip in today's video pick your gpus carefully now certain cards are good for crypto mining and certain cards are most definitely not and remember crypto mining is what's currently driving the demand for gpus we explained in a recent video why that may change and gpu mining may actually disappear in the next sort of 12 months or so but it doesn't change the fact that right now there are certain cards which are better to buy than others that's why the gt 1030s haven't been affected because they're rubbish at gpu mining it's the same with a 1650 a 1650 is not a good card if you're wanting to mine crypto which is why stock and availability of those has been a little bit better obviously with more people trying to buy whatever gpus are left over for gaming 1650 demand and supply has been a little bit out of whack as well so what do you do then in that case if gpus where you are are simply unavailable to buy and you don't frankly want to game on a gt 1030. well that brings me on to tip number three which is actually pre-built now don't click away don't turn off the channel you guys know that i'm the biggest advocate of anyone of building your own pc it's great fun it's a great experience and you really can get a system that's one of a kind but pre-builts have been largely unaffected by the current situation lead times might be slightly longer and there probably are going to be limits on the number you can buy per customer but you guys are probably only won in one game in pc so you should be fine over in the us i buy power who did admittedly get slated by gamers nexus recently have shown to be one of the best in terms of pure price to performance we explored this in a dedicated video about the best pre-boats to buy which you can find in the card section now and i'll link everything i'll talk about in the description below as well i'm not discounting some of the points gamer's nexus raised in his video but there's no discount in the fact that i buy power historically this year have been the best as far as raw price to performance is concerned here in the uk a great brand to look at is alpha sync we do work with them on a sort of sponsored basis but this video hasn't been paid for by them they don't know i'm making it and i'll drop their links in the description below as well moving away from pre-built for a second though and on to the fourth point i wanted to raise in this video this point actually has nothing to do with gpus at all which might seem a bit confusing james aren't we in the middle of a gpu crisis now we are but other hardware has not been unaffected that's not me trying to scare you when gpu prices return to normal building a system will be so much easier but amd cpus have actually crept up in price an awful lot over the last 12 to 18 months i remember the days when you could buy a ryzen 5 3600 for 189 i sound like such an old man back in the day but literally 18 months ago you could buy a killer 6 core chip for 189 now the new ryzen 5600x which replaced it is selling for 299 320. it's crazy and that's why my fourth tip is to consider intel you heard me right have a look at intel cpus new releases like the 11400f or even the last generation 10400f can be found for a great deal right now online and bundles are often a fantastic way of saving a bit of money buying a cpu motherboard and ram in one bundle can save you a lot of cash over buying the parts individually intel really do have some great cpus as far as price to performance is concerned at the moment even the new i7 11700f is a much better value option than something like a ryzen 5600x or even a ryzen 7 chip from the latest generation don't get me wrong as far as pure power is concerned amd are still the winners by a bit of a country mile if i'm being honest with you but when price to performance comes into the equation intel really do have some great options out there now hopefully at this point in the video you're thinking james this is very useful information this is helpful but why then are you still making these videos on hardware we just can't buy with a 30 70 ti 3080 ti why should we care anymore to be honest with you that's a great question we've tried to do more budget content on the channel for that reason but we're tech enthusiasts at heart and the last thing that we want to do is not cover the new high-end hardware that a lot of you guys want to see for the giggles right just because it's more difficult to buy it doesn't help us at all that you can't buy this hardware and the last thing that we want is you guys watching videos of products you just can't get your hands on with because i mean to be honest what's the fun in that i do think though that the market is getting better and is starting to return to normal as we discussed in a more detailed video which you really should check out in the description below but with that being said i am a little bit worried as the holiday season rolls around as we head into october and november which might seem ages away yet but really isn't demand for gpus and gaming is once again going to increase at a rapid rate and i'm concerned that the market just doesn't have the number of gpus available to really satisfy that demand who knows before the end of the year maybe ethereum will completely ditch gpu mining cryptos will crash and thousands of gpus will run onto ebay for ridiculously cheap prices but unfortunately i just can't quite see that happening so with that being said a gt 1030 a gtx 1650 or 1660 super might actually be worth considering as a great stopgap measure to get performance that will probably surprise you you can find our full range of budget bills linked in the description below if you found this video useful insightful enjoyable all that good stuff make sure to get subscribed thanks for watching though and as always we'll see you in the next one\n"